Transnational Land Deals in Africa
| Project Researcher: Ruth Hall |
Recent mounting pressure to commercialise
Southern African — specifically leasing or selling public land to
foreign companies and governments for food production, concessions for
tourism developments, for biofuel production, and for other commercial
agricultural uses — are part of a global phenomenon that has
accelerated since the ‘food price crisis’ of
2007–2008.
‘Land grabbing’ or the ‘farms race’ in Africa has been described as a new neo-colonial push by foreign companies and government to annexe key natural resources. Critics charge that 'rich countries are buying poor countries’ soil fertility, water and sun to ship food and fuel back home, in a kind of neo-colonial dynamic' (Leahy 2009). China, South Korea, India and the Gulf States are at the forefront of this agricultural expansion, as they seek to produce food overseas for their growing populations (IFPRI 2009). According to the IFPRI, 'China now has extensive holdings in Africa including pending or attempted deals for millions of hectares in the Democratic Republic of Congo, Zambia, Zimbabwe, Uganda, and Tanzania, with many thousands of Chinese workers brought in to work on these lands' (Leahy 2009). However, it appears that the IFPRI estimates of 15 to 20 million hectares may be overly conservative, as this is largely based on investments by governments. Other analysts point out that most private investments — which are thought to account for as much as 90% of the total land area involved — are not being monitored (IIED 2009). Among these are major investments by European and North American banks and financial investors seeking alternatives to volatile international financial markets. Most of these investments are for production of food crops for foreign markets, while about a quarter of the investments are for biofuel plantations (IFPRI 2009). The deals typically involve the sale, leasing or other concessions to large areas of land usually for commercial food and/or production for foreign markets, by foreign companies and government concerned to hedge against the threat of food price increases on global markets, which render developed countries with a low natural resource base vulnerable to food shortages for their populations. Because the new ‘deals’ involve leases or concessions on communal land that is already occupied and used by local people, these deals potentially threaten the livelihoods of farming households and the prospects for the continent’s 80 million small-holder farms, which contribute 30% to Africa’s GDP and 40% to its exports. The deals are also controversial because they precipitate new, and sometimes aggravate existing, contestations over land (and related natural resources, especially water) when private investors, sanctioned by national governments and other authorities, aim to use these natural resources in poor rural areas for their own commercial agricultural enterprises. In March 2010, PLAAS held a regional workshop to explore these issues in the Southern Africa context. PLAAS is also part of the Land Deal Politics Initiative and the Future Agricultures Consortiumwhich are global and continental initiatives (respectively) to research these issues. |
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